Nicholas w



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

TO EDGAR r. OARSON, or SAME PLACE.

GAM E-B OARD SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 590,785, dated September 28, 1897.

Application filed January 27,1897. Serial No. 620,925. N model.)

T0 CLZZ w7t0nt it muy concern:

Be'it known that I, NICHOLAS W. BARNETT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Pleasanton, in the county of Linn and State of Kansas, have invented' a new and useful Game-Board, of which the followingisa specification.

My invention relates to games played for amusement or pastime and in which the winner owes his success to his skill as a player, and has for its object to provide a game-board at which two or more players, up to the number of four, may en gage, balls being used with which to play the game, the balls being rolled or projected in the direction desired either Y with the fingers of the player or by using tiny mallets.

I accomplish the objects of my invention in the manher and by the means hereinafter described in detail and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which= Figure 1 is a plan view of my game-board. Fig. 2 is a cross-sectionoh the linemmof Fig. 1.

In carrying out my invention I use a board A twenty-eight inches square and about one inch thick. This board maybe made in two equal parts hinged together with suitable hinges, which will permit the faces of the parts to be folded together, or an ordinary knuckle and pintle hin ge may be employed and set'in the edges or -secured in the margin of the parts where they contact.

Fitted to and around the edges of the board A are strips or molding's B, about an inch and a half wide and three-quarters of an inch thick. The strips may be mitered to form a more perfect joint at each of the corners and may be secured to the edges of the board in any suitable manner. V

The lower edges of the strips are flush with the back of the board, while the upper edges rise about half an inch above its face and form a wall around the margin of the board.

A triangular inclosure O is formed in each of the four corners on the face of the board. These inclosures each have the same area and are formed by securing a single strip diagonally across and to the face of the board in each of the four corners thereof, the strip rising to a height of about one-half an inch from board, are formed with plane surfaces, and

these surfaces are covered with elastic rubber D or other suitable elastic materialof suitable thickness, forming a cushioh from which the balls used in the game rebound when they come in contact therewith. The field in which the game is played is octagonal in outline, four of its sides being shorter than the other four. Two circular pockets E E one inch and a half in diameter and one-half inch deep are provided in the face of the board immediately in front of each strip used to form the triangular inclosure ineach of the corners of the board. These pockets are the same distance apart in front of each of the inclosures and are placed about midway on each side between the middle of the front thereof and the edge of the board.

A quadrangular space F is inclosed on the face of the board by lines f of equal length marked thereon, these lines being drawn parallel with the four edges of the board at a distance of eight inches therefrom. These lines are continuous on each of the four sides to the corners, where they meet, and may be in any strong color readily seen. On each of the four sides of the inclosed space F and midWay of the lines inclosing it are marked in black colors rectilinear squares to indicate the point from which the play is made, and they are numbered 1, 2, 3', and l in regular order, and the player takes his number from the number of the square from 'The outer sides; of the wardopposite corners, leaving an unmarked space between the points where the lines g terminate. Straight lines are also marked in colors from the triangular inclosures in each of the oorners of the board diagonally of the face of the board and intersect each of the corners of the inner and outer squares, ter minating in the corners of the inner square. Within the inner square G, near each corner and also in the center thereof, crosses are marked in red colors. The four triangular inclosures are numbered l, 2, 3, and 4: in regular order, the corner to the right of the player facing the rectangular square marked across line f of the square F having the same number applied to the square. The number 10 is placed, preferably in red colors, on theface of the board in front of the pocket to the right of the player facin g the board, and the number 20 is placed in front of the pocket to his left.

The board when used is supported on a 'table or by any suitable means, and the players sit facing the board and faciug each other in pairs.

Games are played on the board with marbles. Four yellow men of the same size are placed one each on the erosses in the four corners within the inner square, and a red marble, a third larger than the yellow men, is placed upon the center cross and is designated the king. Each player seleots six white or six black marbles to use as taws. Twenty-nine marbles are required when four persons playviz., twelve white and twelve black for taws and the four yellow men and the king.

Designating the players by numbers, No. 1 begins the game by placing ataw upon the spot numbered l, placing the forefinger or any other finger of either hand or either of the thumbs against the taw and with a flip projects the taw so as to hit the king on either the right or left side, aiming to drive the king or some of his men into a pocket. If the player misses the king, the play counts nothing, although he should drive one of the men into a pocket or his taw should go in. If the king is hit and goes into a pocket or if he is roqued or rolled against a man or more than one man and drives him or them into a pocket, either the king or the man or men, as the case may be, is placed back on the red cross. If none of them are driven into a pocket, it being necessary that the king should be hit first, the position of the king or of the men is not disturbed. The taw of the first or of any player also remains on the board unless it has gone into a pocket, and if the latter occurs it is placed in the inclosure to the right of: its owner, and this is done with the taw of any player in this game. No. 2 follows No. 1 and is permitted to place his taw at any point to the right or left of the numbered spot in front of him and shoot at the king or at any of the men or at the taw of No. 1, if it is on the board. No. 3 follows No. 2 being permitted to play under the same conditions that No. 2 plays, and so on to the end of the game, No. 1 being subject to the same conditions as the others after his first lay. p Each player uses a new taw cachtime he plays, but if his taws are exhausted before the game is finished he is not permitted to play unless the taws of all the players are exhausted without the game being finished, in which case all taws are taken from both field and inclosures and returned to the owners.. Then the playing continues, the play beginning with the number following the last player, but the king and the men who are on the field remain undisturbed, the fact being kept in mind that whenever a man or the king is driven into a pocket he is put back on the cross.

A man or taw when driven into a pocket counts the number for the player of the pocket it goes into, except it goes in under the circumstances pointed out in the play of No. 1 during his first play. The king counts the player twice the number of the pocket, subject to the above exception. If a player rolls his own taw into a pocket, it counts him nothing, and whenever a taw rolls off or is knocked off the board it is put in the inclosure of the player. If the king or a man is knoeked off the board, he is put back on the cross to which he belongs.

Instead of playing directly against the king, any of the men, or a taw, the play may be made against the cushion, with the object in view of rebounding and driving any of them into a pocket.

This game may consist of one, two, three, or four hundred points, or such number as the players may agree upon.

I have described a game in which four players en gage and in which two may play as partners against the other two, but the same principles will govern when there are but two players. Other games differing from the one I have described may be played on my gameboard by means of marblcs. By use of the term marbles I do not wish it u1iderstood that I confine myself to balls made of marble.

. They maybe made of ivory, celluloid, vulcanized rubber, glass, or any suitable material of a limited degree of elasticity.

If desired, the face of the board may be covered with cloth, felt, or any suitable material and the squares, crosses, and numbers marked thereon.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Let ters Patent, is-

1. A game -board provided with a field whereon the game is played, of octagonal outline, each alternate side of said field of the same length and the intermediate sides each of the same length but shorter than the other sides, said field surrounded with a cushioned wall, each of four equal sides of said field at and No. at follows him, each of them IIO points equidistantfrom the center of said field and adjacent to said wall, provided With two pockets, said pockets the same distance apart in each of the four sides and at the same distance from the ends of said sides, substantially as shown and described.

2. A game-board having a field of octagonal outline surrounded by a cushioned wall and provided With two pockets along each of four alternate sides of said field and at equal distances from the ends of said sides, a cross in the center of said board in the center of a square indicated thereon, and a cross in each corner of said square to indicate the points where the pieces which are played upon are to be placed, and a square outlined at equal distances from the central square to indicate the place from.which the play is made and a rectangular arca marked on said outline 011 each side thereof equidistant from the corners thereof, substantially as shown and described.

3. A game-board of quadrangular outline, each of its sides of the same length, a wall surrounding its margins and each of the four corners of its face provided with triangular inclosures of the same area, the field on said board whereon the game is played of octagonal outline, each alternate side formed of the same length and said field inclose d with a cushined wall, the walls facing the hypote nuse of the triangular inclosures forming four of the walls surrounding the field, two pockets each in the face of the field in front of the wall of each of said triangular inclosures, a cross marked in the center of the field and in the centerof a square indicated thereon and a cross in each corner of said square to indicate the points on said field whereon the pieces are placed to be played upon, a square outline marked equidistant from the center of said field from which to play on the pieces there- 0n, substantially as shown and described.

In testimony whereof I hereto affix my signature in the presence'oftwo witnesses.

NICHOLAS XV. BARNETT. Witnesses:

J. A. LIGHTFOOT, v JAMES A. CADY. 

